


Looping

by Doceo_Percepto



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Chapter 5 spoilers abound, Gen, Henry doesn't, POV Second Person, The Ink Demon remembers, this is rather frustrating folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-23 21:32:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16626794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doceo_Percepto/pseuds/Doceo_Percepto
Summary: You are Henry, and maybe the Ink Demon isn't your enemy.





	Looping

_All right Joey, I’m here. Let’s see if we can find what you wanted me to see._

Ink Machine, demon, angel, Boris ( _he didn’t deserve that_ ) – the final reel. It’s locked away in the vault in a box, but you find it and then

_He was there for the beginning, but he has never seen The End_

 

_All right Joey, I’m here._

Ink Machine, demon, angel, Boris (oh God, poor Boris) – the final reel. It’s locked away in the vault in a –

No, the Ink Demon stole it. You have to get it back. It’s on his throne.

_… but he has never seen The End_

 

_All right Joey…_

The Ink Demon stole the final reel, it’s on his thr-

No, it’s tucked away in a toolbox; you’re not sure why you thought it was on the throne.

_The End_

 

_All right Joey…_

The Ink Demon stole the final reel; when you go hunting for it, delving deep into his territory, you find him transformed into something more monstrous than before, something with huge teeth and a savage snarl, and he's guarding the reel.

You try to dart past.

Teeth puncture through your chest; you’re lifted into the air like meat, bones crunch –

 

_All right Joey…_

A malformed cartoonish hand swipes at you while the Ink Machine chugs in the background. You get the sense you made a terrible mistake, and you feel his snarl on your spine as you flee and then

(I always fall)

He pursues you relentlessly, almost desperately. He rakes his fingers over the Miracle Stations you hide in, and his grin fills the slot, vibrating. It occurs to you, oddly, that he can’t frown. He can’t change his expression whatsoever. He’s just always, always grinning. Whether he wants to or not.

And when he leers through the Miracle Station slot you think he doesn’t want to be grinning. You think he’s angry, or

upset?

 

He catches you several floors down. You die.

 

_All right Joey. All right Joey. All right Joey._

There’s a demon in the studio. Something horrific, resembling Bendy and yet like nothing you've ever seen. He can’t change his expression, but he seems tired.

Tired is an odd way to describe a monster.

You avoid him, because you fear him, as should all things down here. But the time comes that you have to enter his lair, to find the final reel, and he’s keeping it on his throne. There are also chains on his throne, you realize. Because he kills, you think. Of course they chained him. They tried to contain him. But then you remember

_I’m paying for living attractions, not weird abominations! Whatever that grinning thing was I saw wandering around your office, you better keep it locked up tight!_

and you wonder if he killed things before he was chained, or if he was chained before he killed things. For a moment you pause and touch the broken chains, picturing him alone down here, watching cartoons for thirty years. On repeat. Over and over. So. Very. Alone.

You take the final reel, glad at least to end your own suffering and his, and the suffering of all the people trapped in this wretched studio... now at least, you can leave.

_The End_

_All right Joey. The End. All right Joey. The End All right –_

You’re running errands for ‘Alice’ and maybe it’s the tedium of it, maybe it’s something else, but the walls start to beat with the ink pumping, and shadows play over the boards, and you think… what if you didn’t run?

So you don’t. You turn, shaking, and try to establish some silent mutuality. He does not care. He only cares about death.

_All right Joey._

“You _want_ to get killed?” Alice cackles.

You don’t know what she’s talking about. You don’t want to get killed, no. That’s why you’re running. That’s why you keep pressing on. But what she says sparks an odd, placeless thought:

Chains.

The ink heart pumps. What if… you didn’t run?

 

_All right Joey._

“Can you try not dying this time?” Alice grumbles.

This time? What does she mean this time? You don’t want to die; you’re doing everything you can to not die. Luckily that demon leaves you mostly alone… he makes your blood cold, and something in you feels infinitely… sad when you look at him. It’s a weird, conflicted thought. You’re relieved he stays away.

You find the final reel in the vault, and descend into his lair.

_The End._

 

_All right Joey._

Chains.

That’s an odd, random thought. It occurs to you as you hide in a Miracle Station while he slunches past, mouth grotesquely fixed into an unchanging unchangeable grin. He limps. And grins. Always grins. But he doesn’t look happy. Nothing can really be happy down here. Something feels wrong. He vanishes into the wall.

You delve deeper. His throne has chains on it, broken chains. You wonder how long he was stuck here. Days…. Weeks… months… years… Alone alone alone.

Watching what he was supposed to be up on the screens, on repeat. Over and over and over and over

This isn’t a victory, as you put the final reel into the projector. This isn’t

_The End_

_All right Joey_

He sees you in the vents, however he sees anything. You’re sure he could kill you if he wants. He’s made of ink, can transport through the walls and through the pipes. A simple vent wouldn't stop him. But he doesn’t kill you.

Later you find broken chains on his throne, and all the pieces come together. He wasn’t hurting anyone. He was made, was imperfect, and then subsequently discarded because he wasn’t what Joey wanted. How long had he been locked up here, malformed, hated, and alone?

He transforms into something monstrous and furious, and you understand, because any creature locked away for so long would invariably turn to hate.

You don’t run. “I’m sorry,” you say.

 

 

_All right Joey._

You don’t run.

“I’m sorry,” you say.

 

 

_All right Joey._

You find the Ink Machine. It produces a monstrous, disgusting abomination and you get only a glimpse before you’re fleeing. But it occurs to you, somewhere buried up in the crevices of your brain under all the fear, that it had not attacked or reached out to you. Just watched.

You fall.

The Music Department.

Sammy.

You fear the Ink Demon afresh. You flee from him while helping Alice, run at the slightest sound of thumping, your skin crawling and pulse racing. He doesn’t chase. It must be some game he’s playing, toying with you to build your fear. Knowing he can so easily rip you apart.

Once, he stops outside the Miracle Station and gazes into the little slot while you hyperventilate and cram yourself against the back wall. He…

Breathes.

Heavy and gurgling. Like he’s sick. Like existence _hurts_.

He turns, and slouches away.

You get an odd feeling you have just failed some test, but you are alive and he didn’t kill you, so you’re sure you did right.

Then he chases, but you’re not sure he’s really trying. And every time he gazes through the slot of the Miracle Station. Sometimes he tilts his head to the side. His breathing makes you feel all wrong.

You continue. You must.

Boris. Poor, poor Boris.

The angel dies.

You enter his throne room, and he’s there waiting, hovering just to the side of the throne and his face tracks you. His grin is static. Everything is quiet but the soft drip of ink, thump of the machine, and his phlegmy breathing. He sways a little. He’s holding the final reel.

“I need that,” you say quietly, as if he’s capable of intelligence.

He clutches the reel tighter, and you have to admit he is intelligent, in some capacity.

“This is what I have to do,” you say.

He is motionless. You are terrified, frozen. You wonder how long the two of you can stay in limbo like this. When he will just kill you to be done with it.

When nothing more happens, he makes a low growl that you think is not meant to be threatening, but it sounds threatening.

His spidery black hand leaves the reel and curls into a motion, like an attempt at holding a pen for someone who has never gripped a pen in their life. He stares at you as he makes a motion. Scribbling in midair. Then his hand drops, and he still is only staring.

“I-I don’t understand.”

He repeats the gesture. Tilts his head at you. Indicating something.

“What are you trying to tell me?” you inch closer. He’s holding the reel in one hand. Only the tips of his fingers.

He repeats the gesture. His movements are jerky and impatient, and a growl flows like an undercurrent.

You still don’t understand, but the reel is within arm’s length.

You lunge for it. Skitter past grabbing hands, a demonic hissing, then dive to the projector -

_The End._

 

_All right Joey_

Ink Machine, demon, angel, Boris ( he didn’t deserve that) – the final reel. It’s locked away in the vault in a box, but you find it and then

 

_The End_

 

_All right Joey_


End file.
